BAY MINETTE – Jury trials will resume Sept. 21 in Baldwin County Circuit Court with the state’s first use of new procedures to protect jurors, other court participants and the public from COVID-19, according to Presiding Circuit Judge J. Clark Stankowski.
Summons are being mailed to jurors.
“Last week, I met with Judges (Jody) Bishop, (Joseph) Norton and (Scott) Taylor and it was decided that Baldwin County will resume jury trials beginning on Sept. 21, 2020,” Stankowski said. “It is imperative that the wheels of justice continue to move, however slowly.”
The new juror summons process, developed in response to the COVID19 pandemic, is the first use of an online jury qualification process in Alabama state courts.
Residents who get a summons for jury duty will be told to log onto a dedicated juror website. Potential jurors will complete a short questionnaire, using a secure PIN assigned to each person.
The website may be accessed by computer or on a smart phone. By completing the form, potential jurors will qualify for jury service. They can also ask to be excused from jury service online rather than in person.
Exception requests must be for a recognized reason. Jurors who are at a heightened risk of contracting COVID-19 due to age or an underlying medical condition may use the online form to request their jury service be deferred until a later date. All requests to be excused from jury service should be made no later than Sept. 4.
The new juror summons also directs potential jurors to baldwin.alacourt.gov, the official court website for Baldwin Circuit and District Courts, where additional information is provided regarding safety protocols that have been implemented to make jury service safer during the current pandemic.
Those new procedures include sanitizing surfaces, mandatory masks, temperature checking for fever, social distancing measures, contactless sanitizing stations, limitations on the number of people permitted in an elevator, limited number of attendees in the courtrooms, use of the “large” courtrooms only, a newly configured jury box and juror seating that will permit jurors to be seated at least six feet from other jurors, and a “jury room” that permits jurors to maintain an appropriate social distance during deliberations and recesses.
Individuals who receive a juror summons and do not have internet or smart phone access that will enable them to complete online registration may contact the office of Circuit Court Clerk Jody Wise, at the telephone number provided on the summons.
